Leonard Pitts
Visiting Professional (Spring 2004 & Spring 2005)

Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. served as the Scripps Howard Visiting Professional in the School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University

Pitts’ Miami Herald newspaper column on pop culture, social issues and family life is syndicated in more than 150 daily newspapers. He won the top prize for commentary at the Scripps Howard Foundation’s National Journalism Awards in 2002. Pitts was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

Pitts worked for 15 years as a music writer before joining the Miami Herald as its pop music critic in 1991. He began his column in 1994. In 1997, he published a book, “Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.”

Pitts’ column has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, among others.

He is a three-time recipient of the National Headliners Award. In 2001, he received the American Society of Newspaper Editors prestigious ASNE Award for Commentary Writing and was named Columnist of the Year by Editor and Publisher magazine. In 2002, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists awarded Pitts its inaugural Columnist of the Year award. Also in 2002, GLAAD Media awarded Pitts the Outstanding Newspaper Columnist award.

leonard.pitts@hamptonu.edu